How to Remove Most Common Summer Stains From Your Clothes

Most of us love summer as it's the time to relax and spend more time outside doing our favourite activities. Whether you enjoy biking, having light dinners with your friends, or have ice cream every single day, it’s sure that summer is almost always full of fun and an excellent time. With most of us having such busy days in the summer, the risk of staining our clothes is significant. Sil All Services Northampton provides deep cleaning services of many kinds: end of tenancy cleaning, spring cleaning, after party cleaning, after builders cleaning, move-out cleaning, etc. Our professionals are ready to help you with tips and recommendations on removing the most common stains from your garments. Don’t forget that you can always book them for deep cleaning services for your dinner parties this summer or any other time of the year.

1. Grass

No matter if you go playing some football with your friends or you’re just having a picnic, we all know that grass stains make for some of the most challenging stains to remove. The key with grass stains is to act the moment they happen.

Use an enzyme cleaner and a few drops of lukewarm water to make a thick paste and apply it to the stain. Allow it to sit for thirty minutes and use cold water to rinse it. Use castile soap instead of the enzyme cleaner if you’re allergic to it.

2. Mud

Hiking brings a lot of joy, but it can also cause unsightly stains on your shoes and clothes. As long as you're using the correct method, you should be able to remove mud pretty easily. The cleaning method gives results even on delicate fabrics and light coloured clothes. Take the following steps to remove mud stains:

• Let the fabric dry entirely because you don’t want to spread it and make the stain bigger and trickier to remove.
• Use a dull knife/spoon to scrape off the excess soil from your garment carefully. You have to work without pushing the dry mud even deeper into the fabric
• Brush off the soil residues from the spot
• Spray some cold water onto the stain and put plenty of stain removal product on it.
• Wash your garment on a regular cycle and medium temperature
• Don't use the dryer because the hot air could set the mud more profound into the fibres and make the stain permanent

Read also: How to have stain and odour-free upholstery

3. Bicycle grease

Use baby powder to blot the grease stains from your bicycle chains.

• Sprinkle the powder on the stain
• Blot with a paper towel to remove all grease
• Use dish soap on the front and back of the stain to pre-treat the stain
• Wash the garment alone in the washing machine to reduce the risk of grease transfer to other garments

4. Ice cream

One of the best and most fun ways to cool in the summer is to have a pleasant and flavoured ice cream. We know that it’s going to melt and the sweet sticky drops will fall on our clothes—it doesn’t matter! Ice cream stains are, in fact, easier to remove than expected:

• Use a dull knife to scrape off the excess ice cream
• Remove all residue with cold water. Using warm or hot water will only set the stain deeper into the fabric and make it permanent.
• Pre-treat the spot use an enzyme cleaner. If the stain is fresh, you should soak your garment in cold water for 30 minutes. If the stain is dry, let it soak overnight.
• Wash your garment on a regular cycle at medium temperature. You have to make sure that the stain is completely gone before deleting it.

Read also: 12 Carpet Cleaning tips from the professionals

5. Tomatoes

Whether you have a nice salad with tomatoes or cooking a pasta sauce, you can end up with tomatoes stains quite often in the summer.

• Use cold water to rinse the stain
• Buff any hint of colour with white vinegar and a sponge
• If the stain doesn’t go away, use a stain remover to pre-treat before you wash the garment

6. Sunscreen

Since sunscreen is so greasy, it can leave a stain when not managed correctly. You should always use the most effective method to remove sunscreen stains.

• Use a dull knife to remove the excess product from a fresh stain
• Blot with a clean cloth to soak as much product as possible
• Sprinkle some corn starch or baking soda and let it work for 10 minutes. Either of the substances will lift the remaining oils from the fabric.
• Brush off any left powder
• Apply the stain removal onto the spot and allow it to work for 15 minutes
• Rinse the garment and wash it as usual.

7. Berries

When it comes to summer fruits, berries are top-favourites for most of us. Unfortunately, they can cause unsightliness stains when not managed properly. The rule of thumb with stains from berries is to treat them as soon as possible.

• Rinse the stain with cold water until the colour begins to fade. The longer you keep the garment under the water, the higher the chance to altogether remove the stain.
• Use a stain removal product to pre-treat the spot. If the stain doesn’t go away, go back to rinsing.
• Wash the garment as usual, but set the temperature to medium. Always use the dryer after you’re sure the stain is entirely gone.

8. Rosé or sangria stains

If kids love a nice lemonade in the summer, adults turn to a lovely rose and a cold glass of sangria. Make sure you have a stain removal product in your home.

• Apply the stain solution to the stain
• Use your finger to work the product in the stain
• For colourful cocktail spills and red wine, you can add an all-purpose bleach alternative to make a paste
• Pour hot water from a height and put your garment under the faucet, at its highest water pressure output
• If you stained blue jeans, place them in warm water. You can soak a cotton fabric with hot water and an all-purpose bleach alternative. The garments should pre-soak for half an hour.
• If need be, you have to repeat the steps
• Launder the garments at usual

9. Deodorant

Yellowish stains from deodorant around the armpits can damage a white t-shirt for good. Unlike other stains, using laundry detergent won’t be enough, and you have to step up your cleaning game.

• Soak the t-shirt in cold water for at least 15 minutes. You want to loosen the antiperspirant’s bond with the fibres.
• Never use hot water to pre-soak because the stain will only stick better to the fabric.
• Apply plenty of enzyme cleaner onto the stain with your fingers.
• Dab it gently so that the product goes deep into the fibres
• Don’ scrub the stained area, but only blot
• Rinse
• Wash your garment in the washing machine and set it at the hottest temperature that your fabric withstands.

10.  Poison ivy oils

Even if you have been careful, the oil causing the itching in poison ivy can linger on unwashed clothing for two years! You should make sure to remove it altogether. If you have exposed your clothes to poison ivy, make sure not to touch other people's fabrics (sofas, car seats, etc.) or touch your clothing with bare skin.

• Wash the garment with your regular laundry detergent at the highest setting for your fabric
• Don’t overload the machine so that the clothes agitate without restrictions
• Always handle the affected clothes with rubber gloves or use a clean cloth to move them around.

11.  Sweat

We cannot eliminate sweat, especially in the summer. Sweating is our body's normal process to cool it down when it's too hot, or we're stressed. The more you sweat, the more comfortable you will feel. That doesn’t mean that we like sweating. Here’s how to get rid of the ugly sweat stains from our garments.

• Place your garment in cold water to pre-soak it. Ideally, you should do this step before the sweat has dried to set in the stain.
• Sprinkle enough baking soda on your garment to eliminate the odour
• To remove sweat from coloured fabric:
  • Use a high-quality detergent
    • Apply it onto the stain and let it sit for 15 minutes
    • Wash your garment as usual.
• To remove sweat from white clothes:
  • Make a solution of 1 part of cold water and 1part hydrogen peroxide
  • Soak the garment for half an hour
  • Rinse well with cold water
  • Wash as usual
  • Hang the garment to air dry in the sun
• If the odour hasn’t disappeared:
  • Make a solution from 1 part of white vinegar and five parts cold water
  • Soak the garment overnight
  • Wash as usual

12.  Bird droppings

Whether you go hiking, biking, or enjoy lemonade in your garden, bird droppings are common in the summer. More often than not, they happen when we have the nicest clothes, or we're heading out to a party or a business meeting.

• Remove the garment and flush the are from the back of the fabric with cold water
• Don’t use hot water because the proteins in the droppings will set deeply into the fibres
• If you cannot remove the clothes and don’t gross you out, you can wait until the droppings dry.
• Once it’s dry, use a dull knife/spoon to scrape off the droppings
• Use a damp white cloth to blot the stain
• Wash your garment as usual
• Most bird droppings are highly acidic and will discolour fabric, so you will need to go to a dry cleaner.

13.  Bronzer and self-tanning lotion

When you want a caramel tan, you know that you’re taking your chances with the self-tanning lotions and bronzers as they can stain clothes, towels, and even sheets.

• If the stain is fresh, turn the garment inside out and place it under running water to get rid of the excess product
• Apply the stain removal product right on the stain
• Follow the stain cleaner’s label instruction
• Use cold water to rinse it and repeat the steps, if need be
• Wash your garment as usual

Call professionals

Sil All Services Northampton is one of the most reliable companies for deep-cleaning services. Our cleaners are experienced and perform many forms of such services: one-off cleans, after party cleaning, after builders cleaning, spring cleaning, end of tenancy cleaning, etc. When you call us, we can help you with any information about our work and give you a free quote for the job.